


already standing on the ground

by barelyprolific



Series: as a lover and a friend [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Future Fic, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 04:57:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21220967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barelyprolific/pseuds/barelyprolific
Summary: Buck sits to one side of the couch; Eddie takes the middle without much thought, his thigh pressed lightly against Buck’s.





	already standing on the ground

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, after that episode, I just felt like some fluff.

Eddie finds Buck in his kitchen, washing dishes, after he puts Christopher to bed. Taking the spot next to him, Eddie grabs the towel off his shoulder, too. Buck looks up, smiling.

On a whim, Eddie snaps the towel against his ass. 

“Hey!” Buck laughs, moving away, splashing water as he does. “That is not what that towel is for, mister.”

To prove his point, he hands Eddie a freshly washed plate, which Eddie dutifully dries. He takes another, then a glass. After a few more dishes done in comfortable silence, Buck speaks again.

“Thanks again for dinner.” 

“Please, like this isn’t the third time this week you’ve been over.”

“I am helping Christopher with his science fair project!” Buck protests. “He can’t go with a lame volcano. Dinosaurs did that one, dude.” 

“The turmeric trick is pretty cool,” Eddie admits, “but it stains everything. My counters are never going to recover.”

“I...would offer to replace them, but we both know I couldn’t afford that.” 

Eddie laughs, takes the casserole dish when Buck hands it over. It’s the last of the dishes, so Eddie starts putting them away. Buck steals back the towel so that he can wipe down the counter. Afterwards he leans against it. 

“Want a beer?” Eddie offers, going to the fridge. He takes two out without waiting for an answer, counting on the affirmative. Buck already has the bottle opener out when he sets them on the counter, so Eddie was right. 

They move wordlessly to the living room, Eddie turning on the t.v. Buck sits to one side of the couch; Eddie takes the middle without much thought, his thigh pressed lightly against Buck’s. Physical affection has never been something they shied away from, and lately Eddie finds himself touching Buck without even having an excuse for it. 

When he drapes his arm around Buck’s shoulder, Buck leans into him a little, and Eddie doesn’t think much about that either. 

They bicker about what to watch for a few minutes before Eddie turns off the t.v. in exasperation.

“That documentary looked kinda cool…” Buck begrudgingly concedes, and Eddie sighs, picks up the remote again.

Eddie’s finishing up his first beer as the documentary ends, an old Monty Python’s Flying Circus rerun coming on immediately afterwards.

Eddie stands, empty beer in one hand, offers the other for Buck’s. 

“Another?”

Buck’s eyes flicker up at him, mid-laugh from a joke, and he nods. 

Eddie’s breath catches in his throat, his shoulders relax, and he smiles back as he takes Buck’s bottle. 

“Be right back.” 

After Eddie returns, hands Buck his beer, he slings an arm around the back of the couch again. One episode of Flying Circus bleeds into another, and somewhere along the way, Eddie’s thumb starts dragging over the side of Buck’s neck. He doesn’t even realize he’s started doing it until Buck shivers, pressing just a bit closer to Eddie.

“Tickles.”

“Sorry.” Buck is, when they’re standing, taller than him, but like this, Eddie is able to look down on him. 

“You don’t have to stop.” Buck’s voice is scratchy, low. When Eddie chuckles, the air he huffs out stirs Buck’s hair. He watches in fascination as one bit refuses to resettle. This time, when Eddie’s thumb moves, it’s to drag over his jaw, fingers sliding up to Buck’s cheek to turn his head.

Buck’s eyes blink open drowsily. 

“Sorry, man. I think you’re putting me to sleep.” 

“I thought I was tickling you.” 

“Yeah, and before that you were putting me to sleep.” A flicker of annoyance crosses over Buck’s face over the fact that he has to explain, and even that, Eddie finds endearing. 

He leans in, giving Buck plenty of time to pull back, and kisses the corner of his mouth. 

“Sorry,” he says, when he pulls back, the grin on his face making a liar out of him. “You can go back to sleep.” He drops his hand back down to Buck’s shoulder.

Only Buck’s mouth has fallen open as he gawks at Eddie like he’s surprised.

“Well, I don’t want to go to sleep now.”

Eddie smirks, watches the way it makes Buck swallow with satisfaction. 

“What do you want to do?”

Buck’s gaze drops to Eddie’s mouth, and he licks his lips. 

“Kiss some more.”

Eddie pretends to think about this, pursing his lips and looking at the ceiling. Finally, he shrugs. 

“Yeah, okay, we could do that.”

Buck punches him lightly on the shoulder, then uses that hand to palm the back of Eddie’s neck, pull him in to messily press their mouths together. It’s fine, though, because Eddie is reaching for Buck’s waist and hauling him into his lap. 

They’ve barely gotten started, however, when Buck pulls back, his hands pushing at Eddie’s chest.

“Wait, wait. Eddie, if we’re gonna do this, I gotta say--you know, that I love you. Because you should know that. I mean, so that you know that I’m...that this isn’t just sex for me. Or something.”

“Buck,” Eddie says, cupping his face, forcing Buck to meet his gaze. “_Evan. _ I know that. I feel the same.” 

“Oh.” Buck’s smile is instant and unlike any Eddie has ever seen him wear before. Bright and soft at the same time. 

“Can we get back to kissing now?” Eddie asks, breathless, and it turns impish just as quickly. 

“Definitely.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comment and let me know if you liked it! <3


End file.
